


Miracle (Freestyle) - 31 Days of Apex - Day 31

by mdpenguino



Series: 31 Days of Apex [31]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: DarkSparks, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25639513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mdpenguino/pseuds/mdpenguino
Summary: Wattson gets a message from Wraith late one night, something's up to no good.
Relationships: Wattson | Natalie Paquette/Wraith | Renee Blasey
Series: 31 Days of Apex [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850209
Kudos: 27





	Miracle (Freestyle) - 31 Days of Apex - Day 31

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are, the beginning of the end. Thank you all for reading my stuff, this one contains fluffy call-backs to my other Darksparks stuff that I did this month! Also, I gave myself a one word prompt for this one, hopefully it's still in the spirit of 'Freestyle'

It was late, not midnight late, however not too far off either; the moon was high in the sky, casting its deep cerulean rays onto the land beneath. Wraith had sent a message through the messaging system on their PDA’s supplied by the Mercenary Syndicate, the message read: _”Hey Nat, can we talk? Meet me at the coordinates provided._ It was odd, beneath the message were the coordinates, but they led to one of the few parks in Solace City. Solace as a planet, is not necessarily known for its law-abiding citizens. Many of the towns and cities that exist on Solace were set up during the frontier war, during a resource rush when the Interstellar Mining Corporation needed more resources to fuel their war. And once the IMC pulled out of Solace, they left the planet with no proper central government – it seems that across the Frontier, more specifically the Outlands, the Militia wasn’t ready or able to pick up the slack for all of these towns, cities and planets.

It had only recently rained, so Wattson had donned a jacket and jeans, the jacket had a hood, similar to her outfit in the games, much for the same reason as why she wore a hood during the games; the comfort and the noise-reduction that they garnered her was more than worthwhile the “fashion disaster” that Loba once described them as. Her words didn’t really affect Nat that much and it didn’t affect the person she confided in the most: Renee Blasey, fashion was very much optional for them, comfort was always going to outclass fashion for the couple.

If Nat were to tell the truth, she was surprised that it was taking her so long, the warm air made her movements feel stiff and robotic. But once she had cut through the stifling humidity of downtown, she was met with an avenue of bright, white and yellow lights. They sat on decorative lampposts, illuminating the ornate path that divided the park. A ghostly thin and wispy fog seemed to shroud and encapsulate everything. Fog and mist wasn’t uncommon on Solace, especially not during the night; deep in Natalie’s past she remembers a walk with her Papa, they strolled through the evening mist of King’s Canyon, exploring Skull Town in the fog, even back then she didn’t like the fog, she would stick as close to Papa as she could. The fog felt isolating to her, it scared her, it allowed to a condition that she couldn’t predict, what was potentially hiding deep in the fog. Her vision was sharply reduced and there was always a feeling that someone else, something else was stalking after her. Creeping. Wandering. Natalie would rather have a hot mug of cocoa, with marshmallows, in her Nessie themed mug. But Nat stuck to her guns, she wasn’t going to miss a meeting with Renee, maybe in a blue moon, but even then, it would have to be one extremely blue moon.

Eventually the path led to a crossroad – four other directions, all met in the centre with an equal ornate circular design. In the centre was this fountain, but it looked as if the water supply for it had been cut off long, long ago. Graffiti now plastered the bowl of the fountain, messages about corruption and some tags even older, one for an example was the IMC’s logo in the centre of a crosshair. Nat sighed, and pulled her PDA out from where it was hiding snugly in her pocket. With a few taps, she checked the message from Renee. Fear gripped her whole being. She had missed her turning. She missed where Renee was. Nat couldn’t believe her eyes, she blinked. “I’ve walked past her, non?” Her words tumbled right out of her mouth, slowly at first. Renee knew that she didn’t like the fog. So why would she ask to meetup not on the path. The more she stood still and thought, the more uneasy she felt. Butterflies started to surface in her stomach, bouncing, biting. She felt uneasy. “Wraith?” She called out, moving the PDA down by her side. Paranoia was building. She flicked the switch on her PDA turning the screen off. And it stated there in her hands, dangling by her side whilst her head spun around. 

She stared down back at the path she had walked along minutes before, less of the lights were visible now than they were when she had entered the park. Standing motionless, Natalie listened to the wind whistling between the wrought iron of the ornate lampposts. She gripped her PDA as goose bumps crept up her arms, hairs standing on edge. It was like one of her static shocks that she experienced when she was working into the night in her workshop back in her home in King’s Canyon. The wind picked up. Beads of sweat were drawn to the surface of her fore-arms, the wind wasn’t cool. It just brought wave after wave of heat bearing down on her. The pinpricks of goose bumps crept up her back, along the ridge of her spine, approaching her neck. She let out a reluctant shiver and spun around.

Nothing. The grey fog lit up by the other lampposts. With a bow of her head she closed her eyes and sighed. “Keep it together Nat. You’re a Legend in the Apex Games. Some fog shouldn’t scare you. Send Renee a message, tell her to come to the old fountain in the centre.” Natalie mumbled as she inhaled deep breaths. She pulled her phone back up and gazed into the deep blue of the screen, her face being lit up. She tapped on the screen and using the tactile navigation wheel on the side, she managed to get a message out to Renee. _I’m at the old fountain in the park. Is it possible to meet me here?”_ With a disgruntled huff she rested her thumb on the send button. And it was gone. The message had been sent. A sigh of relief from Nat broke the air. Now she had to wait. 

It wasn’t like Natalie Paquette wasn’t used to waiting, she preferred waiting and setting up camp, being stationary. Her playstyle in the Apex Games also emphasised this part of her personality. But she was naturally impatient as well, these two parts of Natalie often found themselves conflicting, she often wanted to be doing something with her hands. When she did have to wait, words from Papa would be flung straight to mind: “Nothing good comes from idle hands.” Nat always wanted to be doing something. Truly a frightening dichotomy. She found herself clutching her PDA in one hand and the other hand was occupied with drumming her fingers in a discordant melody against her leg. In her mind, the blonde was trying to distract herself with what she was going to eat this evening, and maybe even cuddle up with Nessie to watch a film. 

Distant at first. A noise. A struggle. Then louder. A scream. Becoming a gurgle. Almost instinctively, like a switched being flicked, she swapped out of ‘casual Natalie’ to Wattson the Apex Legend. “Renee?” Natalie called out. The blonde had spent enough time with Wraith in the games to know that it must have been her. Blue eyes scanned the fog. Nothing again. Fear mounted. Tension climbed. A scream again. She started into a run. Muscles tightening up and then releasing in an explosion of passion. “Renee!” She shouted out into the night. 

Running blind into the fog, Natalie was scared and confused she had nothing to go off of. No real location to go off of. Just the sound of a bloodcurdling scream that pierced the fog. “Renee?” She stepped off of the ornate path. A layer of dew covered the grass. Her worn black leather shoes became shiny from the liquid that was covering them. She stumbled as she run. Her feet getting caught up in the trailing roots of a tree. She reached her hand out and braced using the sturdy bark of the tree, digging her nails in slightly to stop herself from falling over. “Renee.” She spun her head around desperately searching for her. 

That’s when she saw it. Lying down, shrouded deep in fog. A body. The eyes of the blonde refocus, the fog made it hard for her to see. She rushed forwards. The feeling of having butterflies returned. “Renee.” The mournful call from Natalie would’ve shaken anyone to their core. Nat knew it was her, there had been barely anyone else in the park. She ran forward, diving to her knees. It was Wraith. She was lying facedown on the grass. Natalie was shaking, using all the strength that the young woman could muster she tugged on the far side of Wraith, pulling her onto her back. 

What was weird is that it looked like there hadn’t been a struggle between Wraith. Her arms were placed firmly by her sides. Whilst true that it looked like there hadn’t been a struggle sure, it might be the case that her body had been sabotaged to look like this. When she saw Renee’s face, she noticed that all the colour had been drained out of it, she was paler than usual. The air was laden with the distinct scent of iron. Natalie recognized it from her time in the Games. “Renee?” Natalie questioned. No response. She cupped her face, lifting her head off of the ground. The dew from the ground had rubbed off onto Renee’s face. The blonde’s brow became pensive. “Renee. Please.” Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead, dripping down Nat’s face. Then the tears came. “Renee.” She cried out. Renee didn’t respond. “Help!” Nat screamed out at the top of her lungs. No response.

A slight flutter of Renee’s eyelids. “Nat. Get out of here.” Renee spoke with heavy breaths, the words punctuating each breath. “You shouldn’t be here…I’m sorry.” Her voice tailed off towards the end.

“Renee, please…please stay.” Her hands moved from her face to behind her back. She clutched her tight. She found herself choking up at each word, the next being harder to say than the next. “I can get Lifeline, she can fix you. Please.” Tears fell freely from the blonde, falling onto the shoulder of Renee. She pulled the PDA out of her pocket. And fumbled with the device, trying to get Lifeline’s messages up. “See, look.” She held up the PDA and showed it to Renee. “I can get a message through. We can get you help.” 

She shook her head. Nat ignored her, her fingers working away on typing a message to Lifeline. _Help. Renee’s injured, bad. Solace Park._ and unlike earlier, she didn’t hesitate to send the message, plunging her thumb down onto the button. 

“Help is on its way. Stay here Renee.” She had to stay strong for both of them. The younger of the two wracked her brain trying to think of something to say that would try and help the situation. “Do you remember that time when we went camping, and we surprised each other.” She hugged her tight. Nat wasn’t too sure what to say or what to do, but she decided that it would be a decent idea to try and keep her somewhat occupied, at least until Lifeline arrived. “Or that time when you came back from a expedition into the labs, and I was waiting with Hot Chocolate.” Her hand went exploring across Renee’s back and up to her hair, she stuck her fingers into her bun. “When you get better, I’ll be waiting with hot chocolate.” She had to force a smile. She didn’t want to even look at Wraith’s face, deep down, there was the knowledge that it was going to be emotionless. 

The younger woman ran her fingers through the hair of the older woman. Seconds melted into minutes, every so often Nat would try and reassure her. These minutes stacked up to around fifteen minutes.

“Wattson?” The bright light of a flashlight stunned Nat’s eyes open, she had drifted off, with Wraith securely in her arms. She could hear the voice of Gibraltar, his cheery tone even just saying her name brought a newfound life into Natalie’s veins. But she wasn’t so sure the same could be said about Wraith, who had stopped responding to her prompts some time ago. She had to focus on the two figures bursting through the fog. Lifeline was following suit, a stretcher was being held between the two of them. “We got this from here.” They leant down next to Nat and Renee. “I get you care about her, but I’m afraid we’re gonna need to look after her for a while.” Gibraltar offered a hand to Nat. “I’m sorry, you can come with us. But we need to look after her.” From the smile and tone, it as clear to see that Gibraltar was being genuine. 

Nat was scared. She desperately didn’t want to let go off Wraith, but simultaneously she knew that she was going to be safe with Gibraltar and Lifeline. She took his hand, and let lifeline look after Renee.

Time passed quickly, the journey to the bar was rushed. Nat was hysterical that she wasn’t let into the makeshift operating theatre. Gibraltar sat outside the room in the main bar area, Mirage was nowhere to be found at this hour. “Gibby.” She looked up at him, the two were sitting at a table. Her eyes were red. “I think I cried all my tears out.” She looked at him. Her eyes were hollow, empty. “The last time I cried this much must’ve been when Papa passed away.” Her speech seemed to trail away. 

“I’ve been there bruddah, healing hurts.” He returned a weak smile to the static defender. “My first love, we grew apart. We did stupid stuff. I don’t think he’d take me back even if I wanted to, but he was my world, my everything. I think back and say that I lost him in an instant when we broke up, but for us it was a mutual process of growing apart. But for you, this could be instantaneous.”

“I confided in her, more than anyone here.” She muttered. “She was more than family to me.” Normally Nat saying something like that would have her charm, her cheer and her positivity. But right now, they were anything but that. 

They sat there. The two of them mulling over their past, sitting in utter despair and melancholy. Even Gibraltar was having a hard time staying positive. “If she doesn’t come out of there alive, but she will, all the legends here. We have your back.” At a time like this Gibraltar’s words felt hollow. Natalie wasn’t dumb, she saw that Wraith was bleeding out she was rapidly losing blood. 

Nothing was said between the stoic pair for a long while. Mirage had a habit of not having any clocks visible in the bar, so that made things a lot harder to keep track of time. But it was Natalie who piped up at first. “Papa used to have a saying. I still remember it well. ‘This is just a test of faith’.” She said with a slight giggle, but it wasn’t necessarily a cheery giggle, more of a confused giggle. “I’m gonna head outside. I need a breath of fresh air.”

She left through the squeaky double doors that operated as the entrance, the humidity and the heat had certainly died down. But arguably not by a whole lot. “Renee, please.” She closed her eyes and looked at the sky. “I don’t want to lose you like I lost Papa. I don’t think I could take it.” The city had a constant hum, as well as a constant glow. “Renee used to say that the light and the sound not only created atmospheric pollution, but that it also polluted the heads. I think she’s right. This place, it’s nothing like King’s Canyon.” She nervously shuffled her feet. “I’m a wreck.” 

“Nat! We need you. Stat, it’s Wraith.” Gibraltar had opened one of the two doors, not the squeaky one, so she hadn’t noticed. She felt her heart skip a beat, he had her full attention. She turned around and saw that no one had opened the door. She trapesed back into the bar. Gibraltar was sitting there.

“Did you call for me?” She asked.

“Bruddah, I haven’t left this seat.” Gibby responded, a tinge of confusion tipped his words. 

Nat gazed at her muddy shoes. “What was that.” She mumbled. “I’m gonna try and nap, thank you Gibby.” She tried her hardest to fake a smile to him, to try and see if it would elevate the mood in the room. But nope. She couldn’t even force that.

She curled up on one of the lounge chairs, a similar lounge chair to when she and Renee had given Caustic his gift of a Nessie. She sighed and closed her eyes tight. Sleep evaded her for the longest time. She just wanted to sleep, to forget, to have brief respite from the world. But all that seemed to happen was the sounds of the bar were amplified, the sound of a tap not fully closed, droplets hitting the basin, the noise of Gibraltar’s feet tapping inconsistently against the floor. After a while, Gibraltar draped his coat over the faux-sleeping legend as a makeshift blanket. 

Sunrise came and went. Natalie hadn’t slept a wink. She was curled up waiting. At some point, she wasn’t sure, Gibby had went into the room to assist Lifeline, leaving Nat all alone. She didn’t even have the strength to sit up. She just stayed curled up on the chair.

“Natalie. It’s Wraith.” Gibby says bursting through the door to the room, a smile was plastered on his face. “She’s awake. She’s gonna be okay.” Nat leapt to her feet. Rushing towards Gibraltar. He stepped out of her way. She burst back through the door. Renee was sitting up on a table, Lifeline and doc were sitting to the left.

“Renee!” She shouted at the top of lungs. She was in a state. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” 

“Wattson?” Wraith was visibly shocked to see Wattson here. “Why are you here?” Nat ignored her question and ran up and hugged her. Wraith recoiled slightly. Nat tried to kiss her cheek, she didn’t give a damn if Gibby and Lifeline were here. “Why did you try to kiss me?” Seven simple words that shocked Wattson. 

Nat broke the hug. “Wait. Renee. Do you not. Do you not remember us?” She muttered, dumbstruck.

“Remember what? We’re Legends in the Games, we fight together.” Wraith says matter-of-factly. 

“We. Renee, we were.” Natalie’s blue eyes meet her ghostly white ones. “We were a thing.” Natalie mutters out. “We used to sit on my balcony and drink hot-chocolate together.” Fresh tears sprung to her eyes. 

Was this better than losing her? “Who’s to say we can’t still.” Wraith struggles slightly but hugs her back. “We just get to start over.” She smiled at Nat.

Scratch that, for Nat, sure this wasn't ideal, but this wasn't the worst outcome. She smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> And there we go. A huge thank you to the organizers of 31 Days. And a huge thank you to all of you for taking the time and reading my stuff. Until next year y'all! Unless I write something in between. Who knows! Once again, thank you all <3


End file.
